Tenda TEF1126P-24-250W — 24FE+2GE/1SFP Rackmount Switch With 24-Port PoE

Buying it, and when not to

The TEF1126P-24-250W is a rackmount switch with 24 fast-Ethernet PoE ports, 2 gigabit ports and an SFP slot, on a 250W budget. Rackmount, twenty-four powered drops, fibre-capable uplink.

This is the volume surveillance switch: a full perimeter, a market line, a school, a hotel's camera system, an estate with cameras at every gate and corner. Twenty-four drops in one rack unit, 250W to share among them, and an SFP uplink to carry it all back over fibre. One switch, one UPS, one thing to check when the recorder loses half its channels.

The access ports are 10/100. For cameras that is normally fine and it is why this unit is priced as it is; for access points or high-bitrate video it is a false economy, and the gigabit TEG1128P-24-250W or TEG1128P-24-410W is the right answer. Check the power budget honestly as well: 250W across twenty-four ports is about 10W each, so a site of motorised or illuminated cameras will need the 410W-class gigabit unit instead. And for sites under about twelve drops, the TEF1118P-16-150W is considerably cheaper and leaves room to grow.